Opinion category, Page 69
Letter to the editor: Speak up about air pollution
Regarding the article “Damage reported at U.S. Steel facility in Braddock, followed by an increase in air pollution” (Feb. 25, TribLive): Merely two days after a hole opened up in a heavy industrial factory, we saw a violation of normal pollutant levels in areas surrounding the factory. Immediately, officials came...
Letter to the editor: Wian right pick for register of wills
Much has been said about Sen. Kim Ward and Gov. Josh Shapiro regarding the appointment of Jon Wian as Westmoreland County’s register of wills. However, the real political maneuvering began with court-appointed conservator Jim Antoniono, whose handling of the office laid the groundwork for a partisan conflict. Antoniono had every...
Lori Falce: Is a trade deficit a ripoff?
Things can be even and still be unfair. For instance, Pennsylvania jurors receive $9 per day in compensation. That’s even. Everyone gets the same. But is it fair for someone who is unemployed or retired and is, in essence, getting a $9 bonus for participation versus a self-employed plumber who...
Laurels & lances: Cops & cop-outs
Laurel: To finding balance. Many police departments have struggled with filling open positions and retaining officers. At the same time, a number of officers have been stepping away from law enforcement in recent years. Part of the reason has been about pay, but another major factor has been burnout and...
Letter to the editor: We have silenced ourselves
On March 14, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the parent organization for Voice of America, was defunded. (Typically, late on a Friday night!) The next day, the Voice of America shut down. No longer is it broadcasting in 48 languages. What Stalin, Khrushchev, Putin, Ayatollah Khomeini, three leaders of...
Paul Kengor: Trump’s trade policies creating chaos and political realignment
President Trump’s trade policies are creating quite the uproar. They’re also creating a political realignment. The history of America’s dominant political parties on trade is complex. Republicans have largely favored free trade, whereas Democrats have been more committed to protecting their union base. As for tariffs, look at the last...
Pilar Ingle: Housing instability complicates end-of-life care for aging unhoused populations
Research estimates that one-third or more of the unhoused population in the U.S. is age 50 or older. Unhoused people of all ages face high rates of chronic and serious illness. They also die at younger ages compared with people who are not unhoused. Yet, there are few options for...
Sara J. Brenneis: American liberators of Nazi camps got ‘a lifelong vaccine against extremism,’ a warning for today
When American soldiers liberated the Mauthausen Nazi concentration camp in Austria 80 years ago this May, Spanish prisoners welcomed them with a message of antifascist solidarity. The Spaniards hung a banner made from stolen bed sheets over one of Mauthausen’s gates. In English, Spanish and Russian, it read: “The Spanish...
Letter to the editor: Ackerman clearly best pick for county coroner
There are not many times people put their names on a ballot with the kind of experience Westmoreland County coroner candidate John Ackerman has: 25 years as a police officer; 50 years as a fire department member; 18 years as a deputy coroner, investigating more than 9,000 deaths; endorsements from...
Letter to the editor: Reschenthaler doesn’t represent us
I am a small business owner for over 30 years, a past business consultant and resident of Westmoreland County since 1976. As an independent voter, I expect the people I vote for to put country above party as well as represent our district with common sense and the ability to...
Editorial: Stock market volatility affects everyone
The stock market has been unruly over the past week. On April 2, President Donald Trump announced a broad swath of reciprocal tariffs on nations — and some uninhabited islands — around the world. On April 3, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,679 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500...
Letter to the editor: Senior quarterbacks not what Steelers need
When we last spoke, “Steelers serving up skunk” (March 7, TribLive) was the topic, but the solution offered today is DOSE (Department of Steelers Efficiency). With apologies to Elon Musk, I nominate the Honorable Mark Madden and Tim Benz to continue to weed out the waste, fraud and abuse permeating...
Jonah Goldberg: Markets to GOP — we won’t save you from Trump’s folly
John Maynard Keynes famously said, “Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” The point being that, even if you’re right about where the stock market is bound to go eventually, the market doesn’t have to follow your route or timetable in getting there. Since “Liberation Day” last...
Lisa R. Fox: If you pay close attention, you just might save a child’s life
Do you know 10 children? Then you likely know a child who needs your help. According to CDC estimates, at least 1 out of every 7 children in the U.S. experienced a form of abuse in the past year. That means around 600,000 children suffer from physical, mental, emotional or...
Letter to the editor: Automated enforcement of traffic violations no joke
I am glad the editorial “Local cops use radar in Pa.! April Fool’s!” (April 1, TribLive) ran on April Fool’s Day. Sadly, it was no joke. It promoted the use of automated enforcement cameras for traffic violations. There will soon be a state legislative bill to ban all forms of...
Letter to the editor: Transgender patients have right to care they need
Under pressure from the Trump administration, UPMC last month canceled the gender-affirming surgery of a transgender adult (“Officials, activists rally for transgender rights, call on UPMC to provide gender-affirming care to minors,” April 3, TribLive). As medical students, we find this decision abhorrent. In our classes, we learn about evidence-based...
Editorial: What will Trump’s new review mean for U.S. Steel deal?
The U.S. Steel roller coaster is continuing its wild ride. On Monday, the White House put out a memo that reset the clock on the question of selling the American steel manufacturer to Japanese giant Nippon Steel. The almost $15 billion deal was first announced in December 2023. U.S. Steel...
Letter to the editor: Trump not delivering on his promises
I voted for Kamala Harris for many reasons, one being that her predictions about a Trump presidency were spot on. Rather than focusing on lightening the economic loads, he would focus on petty retribution on those who challenged his video-evidenced misdeeds or beat him in an election. Doing what’s good,...
Letter to the editor: Democrat zombies
Fans of the “Walking Dead” TV series will recall that the zombies generally wandered around aimlessly in hordes until something, often a noise, would propel the group to move in the direction of the noise and continue in said direction until another noise would send them stumbling in a new...
Lisa Jarvis: This isn’t how you make America healthy again
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s grand plan for Making America Healthy Again is taking shape. It centers on dismantling the public health systems that have kept Americans safe for decades. The damage from sweeping cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services, which Kennedy oversees, will be felt within public...
John Detwiler: No stopping the ‘data center’ bandwagon?
It’s still early in 2025, and the “data center” bandwagon is picking up speed, with ambitious plans announced for sites in Westmoreland County and Homer City (“Homer City site: Large gas-fired power plant to support data center,” April 2, TribLive). But before that bandwagon rolls over us, we should be...
Letter to the editor: It’s OK to disagree, but not to hate
So much talk about hate. Are we confusing disagreeing with hate? I am a Christian. I don’t hate anybody but I do disagree with many. The Bible says to hate the sin but love the sinner. I cannot agree with or vote for anyone who supports abortion. That does not...
Letter to the editor: Trump voters, are you ashamed yet?
Are you ashamed yet? If you voted for Donald Trump, you put a convicted sexual assaulter who I believe is arrogant, unhinged and constantly lies, a tyrant who has abandoned decency and encourages others to do so, into the Oval Office. In my opinion, he has acted shamefully toward our...
Editorial: Counties should account for children’s Social Security
Transparency is important for more than just keeping government accountable. We tend to think about transparency as finding out what someone did wrong. Want to make sure this government department didn’t spend your tax dollars frivolously? Want to know where your legislator got his campaign donations? Want to see exactly...
Letter to the editor: Spin was bad choice after Signal fiasco
It was Mark Twain who said, “First get your facts, then distort them.” The most recent example of this is our top defense, intelligence and executive branch leaders chatting about an upcoming military strike on an unsecured medium, Signal. So here are the facts that people involved agree with: •...
